Locomotive ash-pan.



F. A. MAYER.

LOCOMOTIVE ASH PAN. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26,1912.

Patented July 14, 1914.

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FRANK ANTHONY MAYER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

LOCOMOTIVE ASH-PAN.

icense.

T OaZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK ANTHONY MAYER, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locomotive Ash-Pans, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a novel construction and arrangement for ash-pans, that is especially designed for locomotives, and which involves a method of storage as well as a means for causing the discharge movement or ejection of a body of cinders and ashes collected therein.

The functions of a locomotive ash-pan are ordinarily two-fold to wit; to provide a means to regulate the supply of air to the furnace, while the other function is the collecting and holding of the ashes without checking the draft, and the burning of the grate bars.

A primary object of this invention is not only to afford an ash-pan construction that will prove to be etlicient and reliable in car- 'rying out the above mentioned functions but which will provide a means for the ejection of the ashes collecting in said ash-pan, by the combined action of gravity and the impact or pushing action of streams of water effectively directed thereon, in the direction of discharge desired thereby obviating the necessity of an operator working beneath the locomotive, which hitherto has been the practice, andwhich has proven to be very dangerous to life and limb.

A further object of this invention is to afford a construction of ash-pan that is cheap to make, and which is of such shape and so located as to clear and protect the adjacent driving axle from ashes falling thereon, and which provides for such regulation of the air supply passing therethrough that the hot cinders dropping therein will not be subject to reoombustion owing to the direct contact with the currents of air flowing therethrough, thereby preventing the rapid burning out of said ash-pan.

As shown in the drawlngs, the lnventlon broadly consists of an open top receptacle,

that is attached to the fire box, and that is provided with vertically extending side walls, and a rearwardly extending downwardly inclined bottom, the inclined bottom being shown as extending rearwardly to a longitudinally disposed discharge opening,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 26, 1912.

Patented July it, 191 i.

Serial No. 722,446.

in a manner to clear and protect the driving axle, while the shape and disposition of the ash-pan receptacle is such as to form a combined chute and receptacle thereby affording a means for giving an inclined storage posturev to the ashes deposited therein, the major portion of which are trapped at or near the discharge end by a controlling gate or door, which latter normally serves to close said aperture, but which when opened permits the dislodgment and ejection of ashes under the influence of gravity and in a direction opposite to the location of the driving gear and the forward travel of the locomotive.

The invention further consists of the employment in conjunction with an ash-pan thus constructed of rearwardly directed water discharge outlets located in the for ward end of'the pan, said discharge outlets being so arranged with reference to the interior of the pan that the streams issuing therefrom will have such a field of projection and distribution that they will be effectively directed against the whole body of ashes contained therein, in an eflicient manner, while the discharge outlets are so located above the summit of the inclined bottom that the ashes deposited in the pan will not ordinarily rise high enough to obstruct said discharge openings.

This invention further consists of features of construction and arrangement to be hereinafter pointed out.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1, represents a side elevation of the fire-box and attached ash-pan. Fig. 2, shows a sectional view of Fig. 1, taken on lines a'm. Fig. 3, is a vertical section of the inclined bottom of the pan, showing the manner of storing the ashes and the direction of the discharge of the streams of water therein.

Like numerals indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

Referring to the drawings, numeral 4, designates the fire-box and 5 the subjacent ash-pan. The ash-pan receptacle is made preferably of wrought iron in the shape shown and is disposed in a manner to clear with its rearwardly inclined bottom the adj acent or rear driving axle 6.

The ash-pan body comprises an inclined sheet-iron bottom 7, that is united to vertical side walls 7, by angular connections and rivets (not shown) in the usual manner.

The side walls 7 are provided with dust and draft openings 8, that may be fitted with wire-gauze coverings, if desired. The 5 ash-pan thus constructed is attached to the fire-box 4:, on either side by ash-pan sup,- porting sheets 9, which extend at a suitable angle and which are riveted to the vertical side walls 7 and .which are-in turn fastened by hangers 10, to the inner side plates 11, and mud-ring 11 of the firebox. The discharge end of the ash-pan is inclosed partially by rear ash-pan sheets 12, which extend downwardly to a point to provide a longitudinally extending discharge opening 13, at the extreme lower end of the receptacle. The discharge opening 13, is normally closed by a close fitting downwardly swinging gate or door 14, that is pivoted at a, as shown, to the lower end portion of the inclined bottom 7 in a manner to provide oppositely extending portions 14, and 15. The overbalancing door portion 14: is adapted to close the discharge opening 13, by reason of its own weight when it is swung inwardly to a point beyond a plane vertically coincident with the axis of the pivot at a. The portion 15, or lower-extension serves in conjunction with the adjacent end of the inclined bottom 7, when the door-is swung into full open position, as an overlapping and limiting member that permits of the door being held in proper alinement and in a position of extension with respect to the inclined bottom, as shown in Fig. 3.

The door 14:, is controlled manually by a vertically extending lift-rod 16, that is pivoted t the crank lever 17, which is in turn secured to and-projects outwardly from the door as shown. The rod 16, extends upwardly through the bridge-plate 18, -terminating on its free end with a hand grasp 19. The door may be held closed and in a locked condition by the bringing into engagement with the pin 21 the notch 20 on said rod.

21 designates a discharge pipe which may be connected to a water or other fluid supply pipe but which is preferably connected with an ejector pipe (not shown). Discharge pipe 21, is shown as being provided with a valve 22, for controlling the supply thereto and in practice this valve may be located in the cab of the locomotive or other convenientplace but for convenience of illustration is shown as being located just outside of the ash-pan.- The discharge pipe, 21, is disposed at the forward end of the ash 1 pan receptacle in a manner to extend widthwise of said receptacle between the fire-box and the inclined bottom. The pipe 21, is preferably provided with a double row or series of apertures c. 0., for the purpose of allowing a discharge of water'in jets in two planes to the full width of the ash-pan, in the direction of the inclined bottom and the diswith the controlling gate or door to trap the body of ashes deposited in the ash-pan in a manner to give the same an inclined posture, the major portion of said body of ashes being deposited in a manner to be overbalanced' in the direction of the discharge end, and

deposited at or near the discharge end. To 7 i provide for the effective removal of the ashes from such a type of ash-pan the discharge outlets in the discharge pipe are so positioned or arranged at a critical angle in the forward part of the receptacle that the jets issuing therefrom not only sweep the full width ofthe ash-pan in lines of pro: jection toward the discharge end but in such angular relation to the inclined bottom as to strike the body of ash material stored therein at such points as not only to serve the purpose of disintegrating the mass but by reason of the impact of the streams and the point of their thrust to affect the state of the semi-equilibrium of the mass resting in an inclined posture in such a manner'as to sweep it overand drive it through the dis-. charge opening.

The row of jets 0. c. are arranged rela tively to each other, so that one strikes in advance of the other as well as providing a field of projection and distribution that conforms with the shape of that part of the receptacle in which thebody of ashes collect. The row 0 of apertures is shown as being arranged in interspaced relationship above thoseof row 0. j

\Vhen it is desired to cleanthe ash-pan the door 4, is opened and the valve 22, is turned to admit the water supply to" the discharge pipe. With valve 22, located in the cab of the locomotive this operation" may be carried on while the locomotive is in motion at any point of the road. I

Having described my invention, what I desire to claim as new and useful is:

l. The combination with an ash-pan having vertical walls terminating in outwardly clined-bottom having a pronounced inclination, a discharge opening at the lower rear end, a door for closing and opening saiddischarge end opening, that is adapted when open to form a continuation of said inclined bottom, of a fluid discharge pipe located in the forward end of said ash-pan that exinclined ashpan supporting sheets and an intends laterally thereof, said pipe having apertures arranged in parallel rows, one row being adapted to permit the discharge and projection of fluid toward the inclined bottom and the discharge opening at a different angle from the jets issuing from the apertures in the other row.

2. The combination of a body of an ashpan which is open at its top and is provided with a bottom that inclines rearwardly with a pronounced inclination, and vertical side walls, terminating in outwardly inclined ash-pan supporting sheets having draft openings, said body being adapted to be connected to the fire-box by said angularly arranged ash-pan sheets and hangers as described, and in a manner to clear the rear FRANK ANTHONY MAYER.

Witnesses HUGH M. STERLING, JOSEPH W. BUELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O. 

